Numerical Investigation of an Atypical Building in Turbulent Wind Flow

Abstract

The article deals with the numerical investigation of wind flow and wind pressure distribution on an atypical building and influence of wind direction on the external wind pressure coefficients. The analysis and computer simulation have been solved due to the collapse of the bottom of the overhanging parts that have been damaged by a strong wind. In the first phase, the selected building and its surroundings were investigated using CFD simulation. We chose the finite volume method implemented into the program ANSYS Fluent, which offers several turbulence models. RANS k-ε model was used for our solution for near-wall treatment; the standard wall functions by Launder and Spalding were used. Additional inputs for the k-ε model are equations for turbulent kinetic energy k and turbulence dissipation rate ε. Size of the computational domain was used according to the recommended value of block ratio of 3%. The wind pressures obtained at the bottom of the ceiling were comparable with the Eurocode values and were not significantly higher. In the second phase, we tested the pressure distribution at the bottom of the suspended ceiling, assuming that the wind could enter the interspace of the ceiling. In the north wind direction, the streets around the building accelerate the wind flow, the wind runs down on the building’s façade and gets in the bottom of the suspended ceiling through the openings and tears off the soffit because the resulting pressures are significantly higher than the Eurocode values for roofs.